An Artificial Host: Encapsulated Synthetic Medium Forin Vitrooviposition and Rearing the Endoparasitoiditoplectis Conquisitor(hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae)

This note reports the firstin vitrooviposition and rearing of a parasitic insect, the endoparasitoid waspItoplectis conquisitor(Say), a male, on an artificial host consisting of an encapsulated synthetic, or meridic (Dougherty 1959, p. 53), medium. Parasitic insects, of course, have been rearedin vitroon meridic diets (House 1954; Yazgan 1972; Thompson 1975). Some were reported to oviposit into artificial objects (Arthuret al.1972; Rajendram and Hagen 1974; Hoffmanet al.1975).Trichogramma pretiosumRiley laid viable eggs and development to adults occurred in small wax-resin spheres filled with host haemolymph (Hoffmanet al.1975).